Hulu will soon let anyone stream shows on mobile for free

Hulu is about to start letting everyone watch some of its programming via mobile devices, CEO Mike Hopkins said at the company’s Upfronts event today.

Hulu previously required you to sign up for its premium subscription service, Hulu Plus, which costs $8 per monthly, before gaining access to any of its programming on smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, and other supported streaming devices. But that’s about to change, which I’m guessing is due to the growing volume of people consuming video content on mobile devices.

Hopkins said the company is still working on licensing deals with some of the TV networks on bringing content to mobile devices without a paid subscription. The move will hopefully expand what’s currently available to regular Hulu users on mobile, which means adding full episodes of TV shows rather than just extended clips.

That said, it seems unlikely that users will be able to access the full breadth of free, ad-supported content that’s available through Hulu’s desktop website. Still, there should be a decent selection.

The additional mobile content should come this summer along with an updated version of Hulu’s mobile apps for iPhone, the company said.